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[Reporter] NASA is unveiling a new global portrait and here

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to show us what this portrait looks like 

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and tell us more about what it all means is Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum

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from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, thanks for joining us. [Dr. Kirschbaum] Thanks for having me.

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[Reporter] So this new global view is very compelling, what makes this map so special?

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[Dr. Kirschbaum] Well typically what you see on TV is either a radar image from the ground

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showing local rain fall or you see a satellite showing the tops of clouds.

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The Global Precipitation Mission or GPM can actually see through the clouds.

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and it provides a global picture with the help of a constellation 

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satellites, both domestic and international. What this does provides

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this global picture of rain and snow every where around the world every

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30 minutes. [Reporter] So can you take us on tour and show us

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some of the surprising things you've seen. [Dr. Kirschbaum] Sure in just one week in August

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of 2014 we saw some pretty impressive precipitation around the world.

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You know the first we saw in the Pacific we see these storms lining up

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and what you see here is Hurricane Iselle hitting Hawaii, the first in 

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22 years. Further south in the Amazon you can see this kind of popcorn convection

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as well as squall lines, which is very important for feeding

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largest river on Earth, the Amazon river. Even Further south you can

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look at the southern oceans, these huge storm systems spiraling around

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an area of really rough weather and very observations on the ground.

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[Reporter] I understand that this is the first satellite to measure falling

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snow. Can you show us a resent snow storm? [Dr. Kirschbaum] Sure absolutely, 

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I think one of the important things to know is that GPM has advance instruments

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to measure everything from liquid to solid precipitation. So for example

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if you look at a tropical event like Arthur, Hurricane Arthur which affected the east coast

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in July of 2014, you can see heavy rain

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in the reds but you also see blue's and purple's as snow

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at the top. What is interesting when it's cold at the surface you can actually

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see falling snow from GPM.

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[Reporter] I understand there's a lot interesting activity over the oceans

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last week, can you show us some of the things you saw? [Dr. Kirschbaum] Sure, It's

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quite interesting actually. Super Tyhpoon Maysak was the

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5th storm to occur before April 1st. So it's 

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pretty notable and right now it's spinning the Pacific causing some

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has a potential to hit the Philippines pretty soon. You can also 

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see some squall lines moving across the U.S. and also

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coming all the way across the Atlantic and affecting the U.K.

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and other parts of Europe causing extensive damage both from wind 

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and flooding. [Reporter] How are forecasters and emergency managers using

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this global view? [Dr. Kirschbaum] Well knowing where, when and how much it's raining and

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snowing is really vital for understanding where we might have extreme events like

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landslides and even floods. GPM provides real time data

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to emergency responders and forecasters. This is an example of 

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Super Typhoon Halong and this visualizing 

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shows accumulations and the dark reds are

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heavy rain fall. This affected Japan and caused

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extensive flooding. Now GPM data will help to improve models both of our

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weather today and our climate in the future. [Reporter] Tell us where can we learn

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more about this mission. [Dr. Kirschbaum] Well this is a really exciting time for Earth science at 

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NASA since February launched 5 missions. To learn more

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about this, please go to nasa.gov/earthrightnow

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[Reporter] Great, thanks so much for joining us. [Dr. Kirschbaum] Thanks for having me.